A Scarlet Bride Read Online Free

sister.
    "Jackson loves to run," she explained. "I didn't think you would mind me giving him some exercise."
    "I don't mind you riding the horse. It's the way you ride I find objectionable. You're seventeen and should be making your debut into society. Yet you still act like a child just out of the nursery."
    She raised an eyebrow, reminding him of their mother. "I refuse to act dead, like so many of those society women. Men have the freedom to do as they please. Why shouldn't women?"
    "They just don't. I didn't make the rules and I don't want my only sister to have the reputation of breaking them."
    The standing argument between the siblings always left Connor torn between letting her be as free as the wind and correcting her wild ways. But he knew the path ahead of her. It was past time she learned the social graces expected of a gently bred female. But who would teach her? Unfortunately, he knew everything about seducing a lady and nothing about raising one.
    "Rules were meant to be broken. Otherwise, why would we have them?" she asked, a bored expression on her childish face.
    Nate chuckled, until Connor shot him a sobering glare that silenced the old servant, though his shoulders still shook.
    "That's one of the reasons I'm searching for another governess," Connor said. "One that won't be afraid of your antics. One that will teach you why it's important not to break the rules."
    "I don't need a governess, nor do I want one. I'm too old."
    "You need a woman's influence. You need a governess's guidance," he insisted.
    "I promise you, she won't stay."
    Connor took a deep breath, trying to squelch the irritation his sister evoked. "Get in the house and practice the piano or something ladies do."
    "Will that make you feel like you're bringing me up properly?" she challenged him.
    The glare he sent her made her scurry toward the house, her young hips swaying.
    God, she knew just how to provoke him. Worry creased Connor's forehead as he watched her saunter away. When had she grown up? When had young men started to notice the soft curves of her body? What was he going to do with her?
    Nate looked at Connor and smiled. "That girl's the spittin ' image of your mama. The spunkiness she inherited from your papa, just like you."
    "I know, Nate, and it worries me. How do you turn a rebellious seventeenyearold into a lady some poor boy will want to marry? Men want a wife who is quiet and gentle, one that's seen and not heard."
    The old man walked away shaking his head, mumbling under his breath, "No wonder you ain't married."
    The image of Alexandra Thurston came to mind. Not exactly the kind of woman he had imagined for a wife; then again, someone like her could definitely warm his bed at night.
    Suzanne's offer to forgo the governess was tempting, as the extra money would certainly be welcome. Yet he'd put off her coming out as long as possible, hoping he'd pull the plantation out of its slump.
    Without a debut into society and a dowry, Suzanne's chances of making a good match were slim to none. And he had promised their father she would have the best. But how did a man go about explaining the proper rules between a man and a woman when he'd spent so many years ignoring them?
    Connor sighed, and the memory of Alexandra descending the stairs the night before came once again to mind. She had the refinement of a lady down to an art, even if society ignored that fact.
    ***
    Alexandra sat in Aunt Clara's parlor, listening to her father lecture her on why she should have returned to New York, instead of Charleston. She sighed. James Halsted III had arrived on Aunt Clara's doorstep early this morning, demanding to see his daughter.
    The years of separation had not changed him. His hair was a little grayer, his waist a little thicker, his heart still cold and detached.
    A chasm the width of an ocean still lay between them, and she had no reason to cross that great divide. He would never concern himself with what she wanted or needed, so she